HOTY judge Hugh Wallace lost everything during Celtic Tiger crash

Hugh Wallace has opened up about how he ‘lost everything’ and got ‘badly burned’ in the crash that followed the Celtic Tiger.

The TV architect, who presents the popular shows Home Of The Year and The Great House Revival on RTÉ, said he was hit very hard financially in the 2008 recession and it took him years to recover.

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The 67-year-old said that the experience of losing such a large amount of money ‘put stuff in perspective’ and he learned how to be comfortable with very little.

Hugh Wallace and Martin Corbett. Pic: Justin Farrelly.

Hugh told the Irish Times: ‘Unfortunately, I lost a lot of money during the financial crisis of 2008. I lost everything, and it took years mentally and financially to get back on an even keel.’

But he said that it was during that time he first had the opportunity to take his architecture career on screen but said despite now being financially stable, he still feels the ‘fear’ that comes with losing everything.

Hugh Wallace with fellow Home Of The Year judges Amanda Bone and Sara Cosgrove. Pic: Hugh Wallace / Instagram

He continued: ‘However, through those times the opportunity to forge a television career came to me, so you live and learn, and often opportunities present themselves when you least expect them. Once you get badly burned, however, the fear never leaves you.’

This comes after Hugh spoke about how he struggled with alcohol during the pandemic and said he’d ‘fallen off the wagon’.

Home of the Year judges Hugh Wallace, Amanda Bone and Sara Cosgrove. Pic: RTÉ

However, he told RTÉ’s Upfront last month that being labelled an ‘alcoholic’ by his doctor was actually a ‘relief’ as he could get treatment and change his around.

‘I can’t describe how stupid I felt at the age of 55 going to the doctor and he, [was] the first person who said you’re an alcoholic,’ he said. ‘At that moment, the relief… of knowing that I wasn’t going to die, the relief that I could get treatment and change my life around, and that’s what happened.’

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